Petulant Express journalist going after moderate (5-8)
I believe the answer is:
quick-tempered
'petulant' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'express journalist going after moderate' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'express' could be 'quick' (as in an express train) and 'quick' is located in the answer.
'journalist' could be 'ed' (short for editor) and 'ed' is located in the answer.
'moderate' could be 'temper' (synonyms) and 'temper' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for quick-tempered that I've seen before include "Fiery" , "Irascible" , "Easily angered" .)